Again, thanks for being here. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 119, and we're going to talk for a few minutes this morning about the sufficiency of God's Word for our lives. And as some of you may recall, last time I was here, I told you that I have a chronic cough. I still have a chronic cough, and it's not COVID. It's not a cold, Brother Adam. I shook your hand this morning. I should not have done that. But at least I didn't hug him. So it's not COVID. It's not a cold. And it's not contagious, OK? But if a cough erupts, please forgive me. They gave me this mic. And it will not be a pleasant thing. It's annoying. I understand. I get it. And I apologize in advance. So just please bear with us. The question, and we're going to look at Psalm 119, beginning of verse 97, but the question that I want us to think about this morning as we look into this passage of God's word is this. Is God's word sufficient for the needs of men and women, young and old, single or married, newly single or newly married, unemployed or employed, rich or poor, educated or uneducated? Or to put it another way, is the truth contained in the Bible, in and of itself, sufficient to meet the emotional and spiritual and relational needs of modern men and women? Is it sufficient for the needs of those who have been sinned against? And is it sufficient for the needs of those who have sinned against them? Or is this book that we read and profess to believe really just an old book full of man's wisdom that sometimes is helpful but usually is just quaint and mostly outdated? If we want real help for our lives today, wouldn't it be better to listen to the Dr. Phil's and Oprah Winfrey's that are out there or their guest experts? Is that where real help is to be found? Or in our COVID culture that we have these days, you know, listen to the science. Right? That's what we're told. As if, number one, science is all-knowing, or number two, that science is never in error. But that's the day and age. So, let's read Psalm 119, and I'll read it, and please follow along. One of the things I want you to notice, we're not going to spend a lot of time on this today, but But notice as you read this portion of Psalm 119, and by the way, this is true really for the entire psalm, but it really stands out here. Listen for the I-U relationship that is found in this portion of the psalm. And my only observation here about this is that God wants us to have an up-close and personal relationship with Him. And listen for that relationship as we read this psalm. Oh, how love I your law. I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. You, through your commandments, have made me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep your word. I have not departed. from your judgments, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Brothers and sisters, the truth of God's word is sufficient for our needs because it calls us into a loving relationship with the one who is called the truth. It guides us to him. It reminds us that our needs are met in him. God's word is sufficient for our needs because it reveals to us the all-sufficient God. The better we know his word, the better we know him because he reveals himself to us through his word. And the better we know him, the more we will find him to be our great need meter. He doesn't always meet our perceived or our felt needs. He does meet our real genuine needs. And he doesn't always meet our needs the way we want him to or in the time frame that we want him to. But he does meet them. God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue, 2 Peter 1.3. God did not create us and then leave us alone to muddle through life without direction, having to learn things the hard way, if at all. He's given to us his word and he graciously calls and invites and admonishes us to listen and believe and obey and change and grow and experience life and peace and the fullness of joy that comes when life is lived on his terms and not on our terms. So what does this psalm, a Jewish song that was written, inspired by God over 2400 years ago, teach us about the sufficiency of God's word for the needs of modern man? It assumes the sufficiency of the truth of God's Word to meet the real needs of man, both then and now. And that's consistent with the truths and contrasts presented in Psalm 1. In fact, I want to just rehearse with you Psalm 1 because I think Psalm 1 is such an incredibly important and beautiful Psalm. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Psalm 1 makes it clear that in the final analysis, men choose to follow either the counsel of the ungodly or God's counsel as found in His Word. You cannot reasonably or rationally maintain that this is not very relevant to us because it's the Old Testament and we live in the New Testament era because what you read here in the Old Testament is consistent with Jesus' prayer in John 17, 17 that his followers would be sanctified through the truth and Jesus said, thy word is truth. When Jesus prayed that prayer, none of the New Testament had been written. Psalm 119 is part of the scriptures that Paul and Jesus declared are profitable for instruction and that thoroughly equips men and women for life and for service, 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17. So as we look at this portion of Psalm 119, we see at least four reasons for concluding that scripture is a sufficient reason, excuse me, a sufficient resource for the very real needs of mankind in contrast to the inadequate, insufficient, and usually just plain old wrong direction of human wisdom and resources. So first, God's word is a superior object of contemplation and consideration. Notice verse 97. Oh, how love I thy law. It is my meditation all the day. The word law here is the Hebrew word Torah, and it's probably used in its broadest sense of teaching or instruction. It includes the whole wide range of what God has revealed in His Word, words of instruction, of caution, of precept, and of comfort. This would include, of course, Torah in the narrow sense of the five books of Moses, but it goes beyond to include any scriptures available to the writer at the time. The point to be observed here is the powerful emotional connection with God's Word expressed by the psalmist. He loved what God had to say. What God had to say is truth. What God has to say is practical because it is true. What God has to say meets the needs of the heart and life. What God has to say is worthy of our love and attention because His Word is inextricably bound up with who He is. The person who loves God's instruction is one who also will seek to obey it and promote it. How could it be otherwise? While the psalmist may not be making an explicit statement about the sufficiency of scripture for the needs of man, he would surely agree that its sufficiency merits our love, attention, and daily consideration, which is why he speaks of meditating on it all the day. And think about this, if Torah, God's word, God's truth, is not sufficient for the heart needs of our lives, then how could it possibly be worthy of daily meditation? Let alone meditation all the day. Why would or should anyone spend time in daily meditation on something that is devoid of worth or of help? Now the writer loved God's word. And what he says here indicates that he lived in it and did not believe he could truly live without it. Is that how we regard God's Word, God's Torah? Is that how you think about it or feel about it? What is it today that you love, that you feel you can't live without? Does it at the very least include God's Word. Do you find God and His Word to be more than enough for the needs of your heart and life? You know, one of the blessings is Adam was leading songs this morning. Sometimes when I sing some of the words of those songs I feel overwhelmed. Why? Because they capture biblical truth that speaks to my heart and brings conviction. compassion or understanding or worship or adoration? Do you find God and His Word to be more than enough for the needs of your heart and life? One of the benefits and blessings of of meditating on God's Word is that thinking about its truth, that's what meditating on it is, right? It's not mindless, you know, it's not mindless, it is thoughtful. Meditating on God's Word involves thinking about it, pondering it, right? As I was reading the Bible this morning, you know, and some of the things I read, as I'm reading, I'm thinking about it. How does this relate to me? What am I supposed to learn from this? What am I supposed to learn about God and His ways from this? But one of the blessings of meditating on God's Word is that it drives away sinful attitudes and thoughts. Do you know it's difficult or nearly impossible for wrong thinking to coexist in our minds as we think on God's truth? Daily reflection on what God says is also preventive in the sense that dwelling on the truth regularly, hourly, a moment by moment, helps us to avoid dwelling on sinful thoughts. Listen. Are you listening? If we did not dwell on sinful thoughts, we would not be likely to commit sinful actions. You know, this week again, we had news come from Atlanta about just a horrible, horrific tragedy taking of life. That was just the combination of a process. That young man, there was a lot of thinking going on in his life that was wicked, sinful thinking. When all is said and done, what better material is there to contemplate than the truth of God's word? Next time you find yourself talking to yourself about something you don't like or about someone you don't like or about something that is painful to you, remind yourself that God's word is true and then listen to what he has to say instead of what you have to say to yourself. So not only is God's word a superior object of contemplation, but we see that God's Torah is a superior source of wisdom and instruction. Verses 98 to 100. Thou, through thy commandments, has made me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep your precepts. The first thing to notice here is that God's commandments confer wisdom. This is the only explicit reference to wisdom in the entire Psalm 119, though the idea of wisdom is implied throughout the psalm. Wisdom opens up the possibility of living life in accordance with how things really are, and thus in a way that works. Though God's wisdom may sometimes seem to not work, at least in the short term, it always works in the long term. By faith, we walk according to his truth. By faith, we walk according to the truth of his word. And we trust him to make all things right, even when nothing seems to make sense to us. We could all give examples of how sometimes life doesn't make sense, whether it's something that's happened or is happening to us, or things that we know are happening to other people. In the midst of it all, God knows the end from the beginning. His Word and His wisdom are superior to ours, and His truth and His grace are sufficient for our needs. Nothing can be more practical than knowing and believing and practicing the truth. Do you believe that? Really believe it? Do you really believe that what you believe is really real? Let me repeat it for all of us, me too. Nothing can be more practical than knowing and believing and practicing truth. So it's not enough to just know the commandments, God's expectations of us, you must also do them. The psalmist obviously knew this. Notice in verse 100 that understanding is intimately connected with the keeping, that's obeying or doing of God's Word. It's not surprising to find that keeping or obeying God's word makes one wiser than one's enemies. We're not surprised by that concept. These were people who were opposed to the psalmist because they were, first of all, opposed to God. that the psalmist would reckon himself wiser than his enemies is not shocking or surprising. The surprising comments are the ones that follow. He claims wisdom surpassing his teachers and even the ancients. Teachers are typically older than students and the ancients refers to the wisdom of people who would have lived centuries before him. So this claim is unexpected and may even sound boastful. The reality, however, is that the truth of God's word, God's counsel to man. is superior to man's education, to man's experience, and to man's wisdom. And when it, that is the truth of God's Word, when it is believed and obeyed, it does make one wiser than one's own teachers, and even then the wisdom of the ages." Anyone who has been taught from the Torah takes it seriously. and applies it to their life, becomes, according to the psalmist, at least potentially, the wisest person in the world. More knowledge does not make for insight, but this commitment does, believing the truth of God's Word and practicing the truth of God's Word. In light of the psalmist's humble submission to God's truth, we should not think that he had an arrogant attitude. These declarations are not prideful assertions of superiority, but a form of exaltation in the Lord Himself, whose wisdom is more direct and superior to anything that man has ever said. Third. We see that God's Torah provides a superior motivation for right living. Verses 101 to 102. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep your word. I have not departed from your judgments, for you have taught me. Clearly, the obedience here is obedience to God's word. It is your word, your judgments, and it is truth that you, that's Jehovah, have taught me. This is the word of the creator God. The one who made us. And clearly, the one who has an interest in teaching us and communicating with us, right? Since this is God's word, and since he is the one who made us, what better reason could there be for obeying it? The one who made us has a reasonable right to expect our obedience. The amazing thing is, that our obedience to Him results in His blessing on us. It's not merely obedience for the sake of obeying, but God calls us to obedient lifestyles because living obediently glorifies Him and is for our own good. God blesses us for doing what we should do, and His commandments, 1 John 5, 3, are not grievous or burdensome. Because this part of the psalm speaks about feet and every evil way, it brings to my mind anyway, Jesus teaching in Matthew chapter 7, that there is a broad way that leads to destruction, but a narrow way that leads to life. That's a theme frequently found in scripture. It's a theme we saw in Psalm 1. When all is said and done, There really are only two kinds of lifestyles. Life lived in submission and obedience to God, or life lived according to man's wisdom. Those are the only two options. But there's only one path, one lifestyle, one way that results in life, and that is obedience to God. And the most important command that anybody needs to obey is God's command to repent. You say, where's that command? Well, Acts chapter 17, verses 30 to 31. In the time of this ignorance, God winked at or overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. God isn't commanding men, all men, everywhere to repent because He's some kind of a cosmic killjoy. He commands us to repent because He knows that will be for our own good and for His glory. Paul went on to say in that passage, because he, that is God, has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man, Jesus Christ, whom he has ordained, whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead. You know, life can be and is, in fact, hard at times. But it gets more complicated and difficult to the extent that we choose sinful actions and attitudes that belong to the path of destruction. Hear me. Sin complicates things, but obedience simplifies life. Sin complicates things, but obedience simplifies life. God's commandments are not grievous. God intends that we know the blessing that come from obedience. He really does have our best interests at heart. And before leaving these two verses, be sure to see the psalmist's claim that God had taught him. In fact, the word thou at the end of verse 102 is emphatic. Thou or you is emphatic. It's good to be reminded that God cares enough about us to take an interest in our lives and teach us. We need his help to understand and apply the truth of his word. We need him to teach us. I like what Jay Adams observed about this statement. If God himself had taught the psalmist, why should he go elsewhere for a second opinion? I like that. Folks, if God tells us something, we don't need to go anywhere else for a second opinion. If we would allow ourselves to be truly taught by God, we would be far less likely to think that man has anything better or more helpful to offer. And finally, we see in this passage that God's Torah, his instruction, is a superior source of satisfaction with life that really and truly is superior to any other possible source of satisfaction. Here's what he says, verse 103 to 104. How sweet are your words to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. And here we see that the psalmist had firsthand personal experience of the superiority of God's word to anything else. Taste is a metaphor for personal experience. And in that day and age, honey was the favorite natural sweetener. It's still a popular natural sweetener, right? The writer's knowledge was not just theoretical, He knew by personal experience that God's word, the truth that God speaks to man for man's benefit are sweet. This is the only place that this word sweet is used in the Old Testament and the word means smooth or pleasant. Sweet in the context of honey is a good translation that captures the attitude of the psalmist. The sweetness or smoothness that is experienced when life is lived on God's terms and not our own contrasts sharply with the reality that the way of the transgressor is hard. Proverbs 13, 15. God lovingly and knowingly invites us to taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in him. Psalm 34 8. It gets better though. God's words are not merely sweet. They are sweeter than anything else known to the psalmist. If honey was the sweetest thing known to the writer, then his statement declares that God's word is sweeter than anything else in his experience. You know, we might value all kinds of speech and writing from many sources, but nothing can compare to what God has to say to us. Experiencing his truth proves this over and over again. And notice also that the psalmist revisits the theme of verses 98 through 102 when he declares that God's truth generates understanding. True knowledge and understanding will result in changed actions and moral commitment. Did you hear that? True knowledge and understanding will result in changed actions and moral commitment. If your life is not changing for the better, maybe it's because you don't really know or understand or believe God's word. Like Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, you do error not knowing what? The scriptures. Because of the understanding he gained from God's Torah, the psalmist hated every false way. That's a good kind of hatred because it has its basis in God's revealed truth. Sinful choices demonstrate a lack of understanding of God's truth. Sinful choices demonstrate a lack of hatred for what is false and therefore evil. It makes no sense None at all to partake or indulge in the corruption of sin when we know the sweetness of God's counsel. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. God does not force us to hate the false and choose the good. His word confronts us with the alternatives and we have to make a choice. The blessing is that he will help us if we ask. It's clear in Psalm 119 that personal knowledge of God was both a priority for the psalmist and also his ongoing daily experience. This personal and growing knowledge of God was made possible through the truth of God's That this truth is sufficient for the needs of man as demonstrated by its superiority as an object of meditation, as a source of wisdom and instruction, as motivation for living righteously, and finally, in the satisfaction it brings when believed and experienced. The truth of God's Word is sufficient for the needs of man because it teaches us how to think and live in the midst of lives being lived in a broken world. What could be more practical than that? What could be more helpful than that? There isn't anything. The challenge before us is to live by faith, to take God at his word, to believe it, to love it, to think about it, to meditate on it, and to live obediently every day, even when it doesn't feel right, and even when it doesn't seem to make sense. Often when my pastor closes his message, he'll ask this question, so what? So what? Well, let me give you four answers to that question, so what? Number one, spend time in the word. I challenge you, encourage you, exhort you. Spend time in God's word every day. That needs to be a priority for every one of us. Not catching up on the news, not your favorite TV program, not your favorite sports team. The word. Every day, spend time in it. Secondly, meditate on the word. Think about it. Think about what you're reading. Ask the Lord, as the psalmist in a different place said, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Ask God for understanding, comprehension. How does this help me understand you better, Lord? How does this relate to what I'm dealing with today? Meditate on it. Think about it. Third, view all of life through the lens of God's Word. I'm telling you, friends, the world does not have anything better to offer. It does not. And any lens that the world offers you to view this world through is going to be a distorted lens. You're not going to get the right view. If you want a right view of this world and what's going on around us, you need the lens of the word. Which brings us back to spending time in it, right? Meditating on it, thinking about it. And then my last. My last answer to the so what is, in a world of unrest and uncertainty, believe the truth of God's word. Just believe it. Just believe it.